I decided to take the boot off my spg about a month ago, it had been on my reg since last August. I was shocked and dismayed when I saw all the spooge that was in behind the guage (and i rince my gear very well, some even say I'm borderline OCD). Then i got to thinking about the silly hose protectors...more spooge all different colors, although my friend who is a biology major was interested in the protis which was growing I was not to thrilled. as the uncle said...nail those boots to a tree, if you try hard enough a hose protector can make a nice trumpet/kazoo, maybe even a good signal device/duck mating call.